


Starshine Arcana

by thescyfychannel



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Mentioned at least - Freeform, Multi, War Mention, psionic death, this was supposed to be tied to ceylon skies but it, took a drastically different turn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 15:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6758845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thescyfychannel/pseuds/thescyfychannel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not a reading, she tells you, so much as a bit of a look into everywhere—every<i>thing</i>—else. And she wouldn't be able to do it, she says, without the both of you there. Something of a magic number. Something about the perfect combination.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starshine Arcana

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> I'm, not even entirely sure what happened here??? this was supposed to be related to ceylon. what the hell man.
> 
> SCRATCH THAT I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED THIS IS TIED TO CEYLON AND IT'S GONNA BE A FUCKING SERIES APPARENTLY.

you met them in a war zone, ashen grey and broken red, underneath the star-torn sky. you met them in a war zone and it staggered you. a daycloak between them, and when you'd taken the oddest sort of pity, they hadn't even been able to finish a meal's worth of rations between them. (they'd been hungry for far too long to eat much, you discovered, when you read more, talked more, _listened_ more.)

and for all of that, they had more fire than you. for all of that they burned bright, spoke louder, they were ten seconds away from blowing you to high hell when you'd first found them.

you met them in war zone that had taken thousands of trolls to their graves, the hill the psionics had chosen to die upon, the last battle of the great revolution. they had fought, and they had _won_ , and even now the statues were being torn down in the capitol, even now the palace was being opened up to all who came, a refugee camp for the thousands of trolls it had once turned its back on.

your commander had ordered you to the field again. ordered you to look for survivors, for the many fallen. someone would claim the dead. someone might not. it didn't matter, not when the world was hurting this hard.

something had to give.

 

* * *

  

apparently, that something was you.

 

* * *

 

they looked different, cleaned up, curving horns and wicked grins, their eyes alit with humor. they'd held up under the war better than you had, for all your cold blood and cooler head.

 _you don't let yourself feel enough_ , aradia informs you, flicking one of your horns. _it startles you when it comes_.

she's not _wrong_ , but you don't want her to be right. it's easier to argue when you're right, you've learned as much from your "debates" with captor. not that he's ever let being wrong stop him, but it means he grins a crooked grin, and his eyes light up the way they do when you all know he's lying. it's easier.

 _she's not wrong_ , he tells you, and nearly knocks his horns on the ceiling when you take a swipe at him. _coldblooded, not coldhearted, you idiot. work it out, we're tired of waiting_.

he makes no sense. he's easier to argue with when he makes no sense, but he doesn't even bother this time. not even a rude gesture as he he goes.

 

* * *

 

so now you had two trolls and a puzzle in your care—you had offered to look after them until they got their footing and you still weren't sure _why_ , they were insubordinate and annoying—and neither seemed inclined to help the other. you weren't startled by anything. not phased in the slightest. the war had affected you, yes, but that was normal and natural. you'd even attended all of the requisite counseling, when you _know_ captor skipped out on his.

the coldblooded bit had to be some sort of pun-related humor. your moirail enjoyed that kind of thing.

as for feelings, you were pale and pleased with that much. why did this seem to be such a personal issue to them? if they had some complaint with your behavior, you had already informed them of the necessary information to put through the proper channels to rectify the situation. you had even given them their own protocol guides. captor used his for target practice, but you were _certain_ aradia had at least _skimmed_ hers.

so if it wasn't a complaint. if it was a personal issue. what was it?

 

* * *

 

_watch and listen_ _, equius!_

you love your moirail, dearly, but that was _not_ what you needed to hear. not when aradia murmured it with a laugh, when you came to pick her up from her dig site. she fit right in with the rest of the abhoristorian— _historian_ —class, a true archaeologist to her, heh, bones. she was careful with her finds, and she had an unerring knack for new discoveries. _they_ want _to be found. if_ _you're so interested, watch and listen_.

not when captor shot it at you when he was knee-deep in tech, _your_ tech, which he'd somehow wrangled the code for. you weren't going to say he improved it. he was best at code, he claimed, but he picked up the finesse of machinery alarmingly quickly, and had taken over all the delicate work you couldn't manage on your own. _watch and listen, zahhak. you'll know when the hum's just right._

you could've dealt with watch and _learn_. you were _fine_ with learning things. why the hell did they want you to listen?

 

* * *

 

The imagine turns, fading into brilliant colors, a yellow-coded troll bent over a half-assembled for the centerpiece, his hands tangled in wires and parts, a fretting blue in the bottom left, a grinning maroon in the upper right. Equius is the first to speak.

"Do you think he ever worked it out?"

Aradia grins, flips the card over, shuffles it back into her new deck, her _blank_ deck. "Without a doubt."

"AA, when you said you wanted to make your own cards," Sollux says, shifting uncomfortable in his seat, "I figured we'd be hitting up a craft store or something, this is."

"Something entirely different," says Equius, and Sollux looks a little startled. He's not used to this thoughtful, wistful mood, not used to something like card magic bringing it on, any kind of magic bringing it on.

"So you're both on board?" She asks, and when she uses that tone of voice, it's almost impossible to say no. Especially when she's already gotten Equius, hook, line, sinker.

Sollux groans. He's learned to pick his battles, even when he's _certain_ losing a fight will come back to bite him. "Yeah. Sure. Let's make some magic."

**Author's Note:**

> SO. I have no idea if/when I'm gonna continue this?? It kinda depends on my mood and feels and what pops up. It's not gonna be in order, sorry. I'll probably pick the card that fits best/feels right _after_ I write the thing, unless I have a REALLY GOOD FEEL before I start. There might be 22 chapters. There might be three. who knows.
> 
> Please let me know if I'm hecking anything up?


End file.
